Archie Goodwin, left, knows winning the TBT title would mean something to UK fans. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Archie Goodwin was the leading scorer on John Calipari’s 2012-2013 team but it did not make the NCAA Tournament and lost at Robert Morris in the first game of the NIT.
If center Nerlens Noel had not gone down with a knee injury, Goodwin still believes UK would have easily made the NCAA Tournament one year after winning the national title.
“I think we had some highs, and we did have some lows. I think that everybody pretty much knows that if Nerlens doesn’t get hurt, we have a different season because of what he meant to our team,” Goodwin said this week. “But I also understand, hey, it did happen, and we did have the team that we did once he went down.
“I try to think of it in a positive light. I understand the frustration of a fanbase and of a crowd knowing that they want to win certain games and we just weren’t able to because we’re missing certain players.”
Goodwin is back in Lexington to play for La Familia in The Basketball Tournament. This will be his fourth year playing in the TBT but the first time with the UK alumni team which made its TBT debut last season and reached the national semifinals.
“It means a lot to me. I think when I was here in 2012, we had an up-and-down year. And I think that the way that season ended left a lot of the fanbase looking at that team in a certain way, in a certain light,” Goodwin said at the La Familia media day. “For me to be a part of that team, and then being able to come back to this, if we could win or get close to winning, it could be a way of them being able to see, like, ‘Okay, hey, these guys, maybe they didn’t (win), they weren’t ready then, but they got the opportunity to come back and make it right, and do something as well.’”
Goodwin understands this is not the NCAA Tournament and La Familia is not playing for a national championship. However, the winning team does get $1 million.
“It is something that’s competitive in that it means something. You’re playing against other pros and you want to win,” Goodwin said. “There’s still a competitive edge there, and it’s still something that we can win under the name of Kentucky that will mean something to the program.”
